Sins of Thy Mother
by A Starr Is Reborn
Summary: For her mother and father did love her so little that they would trade her soul for safety. Blood shall pay for blood betrayed. Post movie. Vampire AU.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Frozen. And this was gonna be a one-shot. Magically, three other chapters have been written for it so far. T_T **

**So I wanted to post this just because I love vampire!Anna and I feel like she's slowly starting to grow more epic to the fandom. I've had it written for a number of months, I'm only adding it now because my computer is broken, and heck, I'll probably be posting more stuff soon because of that very tragedy and I don't want to lose my stories to the whims of my shitty, temperamental portal into the Steam community.**

* * *

><p>Elsa's eyes were wide, mouth gaping as she stared at the sight of the girl that was her sister. The girl that was currently cupping both hands over her mouth. The girl covered in half-eaten, half-digested food. The girl that had just gotten sick all over herself, and all over the plate, dinner, and place setting that she had claimed as her own when she'd walked into the dining room that night. Anna had made a game of it. Elsa would not choose where they sat; <em>Too boring<em>, Anna would tell her, _lets mix it up~_ And so they did. Every night they would – well, Anna would – enter and search the room, inspecting each seat and arguing its pros and cons (_too close to the window, what if someone tried to crash through and steal us away into the night?_) until a proper place could be decided. And then the servants would step forward and set them up for their meal.

Tonight had been no different. Except maybe that they hadn't had a meal together in a short while. One, no, it was two weeks now that they'd spent apart. She was busy. Of course she was, she was Queen; she would fear the repercussions of a day she spent without anything to muck up her sometimes-sunny mood, for surely all time as they knew it would end! But especially had she been busy lately. The council was getting antsy. Apparently being an all-powerful, badass sorceress wasn't enough for them to feel comfortable with her reign. She needed validation. She needed a _He_. Or she needed to pretend like she was searching for one, and the gods forbid her if she were not, for then she was not doing her duty as Queen and _Think about the people, they'll need an heir and…_

Really, she had been hating every second of it.

It was boring and stuffy in that room with those men. They all sang praises to her face but she wouldn't be entirely surprised if she were to find out that they'd been plotting against her since the Great Thaw. _All-powerful_ wasn't just her playing up her abilities. Because they were quite powerful, and now that she was free and flourishing, they were only growing stronger. So a ball it had been decided, a ball to allow her to meet and greet suitors far and near, thin and wide, old, very old, and young, very young. It would be fun, a change of pace, new faces in the castle. The worst fucking thing of her life. Horrible and boring and stuffy like these meetings, but instead of trusted advisors that meant well but feared too much, she would be dealing with men that would stare at her like she were a piece of meat.

Yay.

SO, to put it quite simply she'd been VERY MUCH SO looking forward to this dinner. She'd sent Anna a letter earlier, official seal and all, inviting her to this dinner, just to be silly and overly formal for the fun of it. And she had received a hastily scrawled message back that had been a gushing, rambling mess that ultimately boiled down to accepting that particular invitation. Delight had filled her to the brim; she was excited to hear Anna mutter to herself over a particular chair position versus that of another. Tease and question her endlessly about the chair choice she would ultimately make. Watch her mouth move faster than should be physically possible while the girl went on about her day, and the way her eyes would sparkle when she remembered something particularly interesting or funny… Elsa was ready for it, needed it like she needed air and…

Something had been off from the get go. Anna, while smiling and happy to see her, looked… pale. And for Elsa to think that someone looked pale, and for someone to not only look pale but to physically make HER appear as if she were _TAN?_ That… was quite startling. But she'd dropped it as soon as Anna had rambled on something that had sounded too much like a lame excuse when she questioned it. Not sleeping well, okay, sure, that sounded good enough for her. She'd kept her fair share of secrets from Anna over the years and she wouldn't begrudge the girl her own handful of them. She owed it to her sister, after all.

And that, that would have been enough but… but then Anna had not chosen a seat so much as walk to the nearest one and pull it out, sit down and stare at the empty space before her, uncomprehending, unseeing. Still, Elsa had let that go, laughed to herself at the unintended pun, and moved to sit near to her sister. And then she'd made the mistake of allowing Anna to eat. At the mention of eating, Anna had offered her an entirely forced, tight, fake smile and nodded. Her eyes were untouched by the smile and that was almost enough to send Elsa into a fit of weeping. She could handle Anna's having of secrets but to be in so much turmoil that her smiles, her smiles that meant the world to Elsa, were plastered-on replicas, ghosts of their former selves and she would be unwilling to let Elsa in to find out why and what had happened…?

That hurt. That _hurt._ Worse than any bit of steel that could bite into her flesh, that hurt immensely. But the servants had moved forward to set them up to dine and she had not wanted to hash things out in front of them. It was embarrassing, and she didn't crave for unwanted attention brought to either of them, even if the setting was mostly private and the servants could be trusted to keep things to themselves.

"Anna," she'd spoken quietly as she'd discretely laid a hand upon Anna's own. They were both folded in her lap, eyes downcast. But they rose to meet icy blue at the soft, questioning call of her name. "Are you well?" She took so long to answer. It was almost an immediate assumption then that she was rather unwell; Elsa waited, hoping, praying her sister would be honest. But then the redhead smiled that hollow smile, nodded minutely.

"I'm fine, just," her voice was breathy. Weak. Lacking in all life and exuberance that she would fill every single syllable with. She was loud and _out there_ and excitable and she spoke grandly and often in a constantly running ramble. But she was hesitant now. And it honestly scared Elsa. "Just hungry." She wasn't lying. Not then. But something about it, the way she said it, the way she winced _just_ so as she had spoken… something was wrong. And Elsa, fearing the outcome of pushing her sister for answers, Elsa had… let that go as well. She'd had so many chances to see what was off-kilter about the girl; when it all came down to it and Anna sicked herself, Elsa felt as though she were to blame.

She'd known something was wrong, and she'd done nothing. All because of her selfish desire to dine with the person nearest and dearest to her fragile heart. She was a bitch and a bastard, unworthy of the love and attention her sister positively drowned her in; she should just give up the title and throw herself off the roof. She should really check on her sister, whose eyes were wide and horrified as she continued to sit, frozen, in her own vomit. And a touch fearful. Why should she be fearful? She should really not assume that Elsa would be angry, or disgusted.

Uncomfortable with the smell maybe, but it was strong and she had a weak constitution. Otherwise she was concerned and only regretful that she hadn't paid more attention to the signs, hadn't been more adamant that Anna be truthful with her. She would right those wrongs, this very instant.

"Anna!" Finally sound escaped from her parted lips and she stood from her chair so suddenly that it toppled loudly upon it's finely crafted back onto the floor. She made to rush the few scant steps it would take her to reach her sister but then the strangest occurrence of the whole night happened and she never made it. Anna's eyes flashed for a second. And it was a trick of the light, she was tired and her eyes were sore and bloodshot and she, she blinked and saw something in Anna's eyes that wasn't really real. Anna's eyes flashed a startling blood red. But the half-second ended and she blinked again and Anna's hands were away from her mouth, outstretched, trembling as she backed away from her now-frozen sister. Her eyes were once again that regular blue-green. In fact they'd never changed, eyes don't just change colors.

"I-I," There was something in the girl's mouth. Sticking out past full lips. _Trick of the light._ It was all of a trick of the light. She hadn't been sleeping well – much like Anna had lied earlier, only she really HADN'T been sleeping well, worried over the preparations for that damned ball – and it was all very plausible that her nightmares were waking nightmares. But still, she found herself unable to move, to blink, to tear her eyes from sharp, pointed teeth. "I have to go!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I am sofaking drunk right now. Bourbon, ladies and gentlemen, bourbon is a lovely thing. So glad this was already written becaue I woulda fuclked it all up... those words look wrong... ANYWAY, here's my attempt to be dramatic. Let's hope Labyrinth's Jennifer Connelly rubbed off on me good enough, eh? (it's the origin of every ounce of my everyday dramatics)**

**Ummm, and uhh... fuk. I had something inmportan to say. Ya know what, how bout you guys just have a brilliant day and wonderful evening and if the mood should so strike you, hey, tell a drunk bitch her faults, or her... umm.. uhh... things she does right, eh? Haha, no seriously I fuckin' love you guys I really do hope y'all are alright and if you aren't, fuck whatever is going wrong. They are a bunch of wiener holes and I'll totally kick some asss for y'all. OKAY, get to the reading! Enjoy or don't, all that matters is that I liked writing it and you guys put up with it! X333**

* * *

><p><em>Blood. <em>

Her stomach growls, aching for it. Something is wrong. Something is seriously wrong. This she knows well, has known for a week now. Dreams that'd plagued her since the reawakening of her memories; nightmares, really. They'd gotten worse. And worse. And _worse._

She couldn't sleep at night, she tossed and turned for hours on end, until she felt in her bones the rising of the sun. Only then would that sense of restlessness leave her, and leave her feeling drained. She'd close her eyes to finally rest, and they'd be closed for but a moment… and then it would be time to start the day, servants calling for her at her door.

And that was just as of two weeks ago.

It'd escalated. She paced at night. When all was quiet in castle Arendelle, she would leave her bedchambers and stalk the hallways of the palace. Once the sun left the sky her daily exhaustion faded enough for her to feel like a semi-regular, functioning human being once again. The fact she'd been unable to stomach any sort of food, however, was twice as draining as the lack of sleep. She'd not slept for more than an hour for going on five days now, but officially? It'd been ten since the last time she'd attempted to eat. It just… It just didn't WORK. She couldn't… she tried. SHE TRIED! She'd tried to eat, she had, she was so so _SO_ hungry. It hurt it HURT so much, her stomach, her body, her mind was breaking she needed she NEEDED something.

_Blood._

The thought made her mouth twist with displeasure. But her stomach groaned in approval. The dreams, whenever she might manage to snag a nap (which wasn't too often, considering how unhealthily pale/raccoon-eyed she was starting to get, no one wanted to leave her by her lonesome, _"Just in case something happens…_") always woke her, hungrier than ever. Ravenous and panting and shaking and sweating. Eyes open but blind to the world, still playing over images of carnage and corpses.

… She'd thought, maybe, that she could give it one last chance. When the letter had been delivered to her by a smiling Kai she'd been quick to answer, frantic to see her sister and tell her what was happening and maybe just maybe she could give it one last try. Because if it was for Elsa… if it was for her, surely her stomach would be strong enough. Her body would be ready to accept food. And afterward if Elsa wasn't busy they could go curl up on a lounge in the library somewhere and nap!

Which was an admittedly stupid thought on her part – pshaw, when was Elsa NOT busy? But she never claimed to be overly intelligent. And, really, it was just a thought. Just something to relieve the knots her stomach tied itself into when she considered she'd be seeing Elsa again, but… for dinner. And it was shortly after she'd finished her messy letter, handed it off to Kai, and allowed herself to think all that, that a new thought sprung up.

_Elsa for dinner._

She would imagine that if that snowman she'd not seen since before the Great Thaw – Marshmallow, Olaf had called him – had punched her in the chest, it would feel similar to this sensation. Every breath in her body fled, and she choked on the lack of air. A tightness in her chest, a sharp pain and an overwhelming sense of dizziness. Her teeth started to throb, horribly.

_Blood. And Elsa for dinner._

Her vision faded in and out for a few long moments, everything swirling into red, then black, and finally a wash of white. Eventually, when she managed to calm her wildly beating heart, forcing air back into her lungs around the same time, colors bled back into her vision and the pain receded. Somewhat. There was still the bone-deep aching hunger, carving out her insides and slowly driving her mad. She regretted it then. Being so quick to answer her sister before she thoroughly thought it all through. Perhaps she shouldn't attempt it. Perhaps she shouldn't show up. It might be best for all involved if she were _not_ a part of the all being involved.

But it was too late.

She'd ventured off to find Kai, delicately request of him to deliver a new message detailing her inability to be present to dine with Elsa; he'd met her with a smile, telling her before she could even speak, how happy the Queen had been to receive her hastily-scrawled letter. Her heart sunk, the hunger faded only for a moment to allow the guilt of what she wanted to say crash upon and within her. She bit her tongue – it bled and the flavor was bittersweet – and smiled as well. She was happy that she could please the Queen, and with something so simple.

"_Perhaps you should go rest?_" he'd suggested next, eyeing her with concern. And she'd hastily agreed. Any chance to sleep was the best chance to sleep. And maybe, just maybe, the bit of rest before dinner would… endear her stomach to food. Or something. She didn't know, whatever, it was worth a shot. The rest was the first peaceful sort she'd gotten in what felt the longest while. It only amounted to five extra hours, but it was sweet and she cherished it. Awoke grumpily, unwillingly when it was time to see to her sister.

Elsa knew something was wrong. Right away. Anna could tell by the frown on her face. The crease of her brow. The little breathy huffs and displeased soft sighs that should have been silent to her. But she was hyper aware of Elsa. Always had been. She smelled nice. Her teeth still hurt. Her mouth was dry and her throat was aching and when the food was brought out she felt sick at the stench of it so she focused on Elsa instead. Because she _did_ smell nice. And it was an excellent reminder to her, somehow, that she needed to choke down this food with a smile and care about someone else for once in her life – the only someone else that mattered.

The taste of it was similar to the smell of it. The flavor of it clung to her tongue, so that whether she was eating or simply overcoming the nausea that accompanied each bite, she was always tasting it. It was like a bitter poison coating the inside of her mouth. She didn't want to speak for fear of breathing in the miasma of foulness. Not that it mattered. She'd hardly managed a few meager mouthfuls before all her effort failed her.

"ANNA!" It was so sudden she was almost unaware of it. One moment she'd felt dizzy and weak, the next even more so but with Elsa watching her with those big blues of hers. Wide and concerned. Her lap was cold and something stunk even worse than the food had. Her head tipped down. Her face twisted with disgust, coloring with embarrassment. Elsa stood with the outburst, moving to step closer to her. The scent of her washed over Anna, sweet and so deliciously fragrant. Her mouth filled with saliva, her vision turned bright and brilliant and she honed in on Elsa. Her _everything_ throbbed. But especially her teeth, which she cupped a hand over. And Elsa was moving closer, frantic. Heart beating hard in her chest.

_Blood. And Elsa for dinner_.

Elsa had faltered, her wide eyes even wider.

_Elsa's blood for dinner._

She was going to be sick again.

_Bite her._

She was out of her chair in the instant, trembling and scared and covered in vomit. Cold and tired and so hungry she was too weak to stop herself from imaging the gore of it. Her hands outstretched to warn Elsa off, vomit smeared on them. If all else failed she'd threaten with that. But she didn't need to, as far as she could tell. Elsa looked confused, concerned… and frightened.

"I," she struggled to find words, tripping over her first. Her mouth felt small, her teeth felt large. Every word was clumsy and unfamiliar to her mouth, this new version of it. "I have to go!" She turned tail and fled. Instead of being UNselfish for once, she'd gone and ruined it and…

_Turn back._

She shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. They burned, like fire, as they raced down her cheeks. Unbidden, images sprung to her mind. While her body carried her through the halls, faster and more silent than she'd EVER moved, her mind carried her through carnage. Bodies and buildings and fire. Smoke and death and rot in the air. Elsa, untouched, so beautiful and so sad, in the center of it all. Crying into her hands. Her blood would not be wasted. Not a single drop. Her death would be as beautiful as her life. Anna would make certain.

But no, NO that thought, those images it wasn't her, not really, it wasn't it wasn't she couldn't ever even IMAGINE hurting Elsa, never mind… never mind actually KILL her.

_FEED._

"No," she shut herself in her room. Her hand found the lock and clicked it shut. "I won't." Not if these dreams and waking visions meant what she knew they had to. This wasn't right, more than that, it was so far from being normal it made Elsa seem mundane. This was magic, powerful magic if she were any judge – and she'd had a LOT of powerful magic cast upon her at one time or another, so she was pretty certain in her ability to deduce the problem at hand. And while the prognosis was easy to make, the hard part came next… This was magic, _powerful_ magic, the likes of which she'd never encountered before.

She needed to find a magic user. She needed to find a magic user that WASN'T her sister. And she needed to find a cure for this; she would, too, even if she had to beat it out of the mage she would turn to. And until this was all over and done with and she wasn't so… toothy… mostly, mostly she needed to make herself scarce on these castle grounds before Elsa gathered her wits about it and gave chase. _Kristoff!_ The thought struck her suddenly and she felt a genuine grin spread across her cheeks for the first time in twelve days.

The trolls could help (probably). Everything would be fine (maybe). She was going to fix this (…)! She wrote a note, short and simple and to the point – something she was not known for, but was indeed capable of – and left it on her pillow, just remembering in her haste that she might wish to change into something that stank of foods less foul, before leaping out of one of the windows. And yes, it was many stories high. But something inside her encouraged her to do it. Told her that the fall would be exhilarating and the landing quite easy. And it was, both.

It would mark the first time she'd finally listened to the dark little voice whispering in her ear. It wouldn't be the last.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Some... stuff has gone down lately. Tough things. Really... really tough things. People know things now I might like if they didn't know. I have to... hmm, be a burden. But on the bright side I HAVE finally seen Maleficent.**

* * *

><p>He didn't speak to her the whole way up the mountain. She could smell fear on him, quite literally. He was afraid, he was terribly, horribly frightened right now, of what she was truly capable of. His front door had been bolted and locked when she'd come upon it.<p>

She'd kicked it down.

The noise had awoken him and by the glow of light from a half-full moon streaming in through the open doorway, he'd caught sight of her face. Eyes that glowed a sickening blood red. Teeth that were long, deathly sharp and sticking past the barrier of her lips.

Her request for passage up the mountain – _"What, right now?" "Yes. Right now."_ – had been met with little resistance once she'd growled and bared the full extent of the sharpness of her teeth. On either side of her elongated canines, her teeth were slightly lengthened and curved into points. Like some _beast._ She spat at him that his stench (and his fear) was repulsive and he was only so lucky for those facts, otherwise she'd probably have (accidentally) killed him already. Simultaneously, that had managed to fully wake him up and shut him up, convincing him that maybe NOW really was the best time to take Anna to the trolls.

Though he had some reservations on it, especially considering the _last _time he'd taken her on a journey in the dark – the Gods might smile upon him that his sled not be destroyed, _again_ – he had enough sense to trust that little gut instinct insisting that Anna was the most dangerous creature in the forest right now. All others would know and leave them be. Or at least he told himself so; made it easier to not look over his shoulder (or at her) throughout the whole awkwardly silent ride.

She didn't talk to him either. His scent really _was_ quite repugnant. It reminded her of food-stench, but slightly less edible. The power of will it took to keep herself from sneering in disgust with each breath in she took was immense and impressive even to her. Talking would require mouth-breathing, and mouth-breathing would involve _tasting_ his smell. It made her empty stomach roil angrily, just the thought of it.

On the bright side, however, at least she didn't have to worry about being any sort of threat to his health or the extent of his life span. Yay. She could potentially keep some semblance of friendship between them should this whole affair spiral farther into the darkness, and no cure for what ailed her appeared to be forthcoming. Oh joy. And she'd just have to spend the rest of her life avoiding her older sister. Which, in all honesty, might be a _good_ thing! Get some perspective on what it was like to be the one locking the door, instead of knocking on the door.

_Hopefully it won't come to that._

She swallowed thickly, worried, blood-red eyes scanning the darkness about her. Her mouth was still too full with teeth. Since the jump from the window, she'd felt different. Her body felt strangely strong, she could see _everything_ in the darkness, no matter how deep and dark and menacing any bit of shadow appeared to be to any other. She could hear heart beats. At first she'd thought it might be her own heart roaring in her ears, overcome as she was with this strange sense of nervous anticipation that kept it fluttering in her breast. But she could hear Kristoff's, and how it jumped when she made to insert herself into his personal space bubble in any manner. Sitting next to him on the sled had it beating at a slightly higher rate than normal. And every single shift of her body would result in a spike in the fear-scent and a jump in the beat of his heart.

And yeah, she could smell _fear_. She could smell the thick, sickly-sweet stench of worry that was pouring off of Sven, as well. He sensed Kristoff's fear and reacted accordingly. Running, face-forward, yes; but there was an odd tension in his run, that made it stiff and almost unnatural. He wanted to turn his broad, furry face to Kristoff and demand to know what was going on – with him and with the woman that was his first female friend, that the imbalance between them was so great and sudden and noticeable – but he also sensed the urgency in them and in the moment, and so he simply ran.

The first fingers of dawn were reaching over the horizon by the time they reached the Valley of Living Rock. Kristoff and Sven were both understandably exhausted, and it would be a lie to imply that Anna wasn't, but her purpose kept her ever-drooping eyelids from completely falling. She bade Kristoff and Sven stay back at the very edge of the valley, where the snow just stopped; let her venture forth on her own, so that she might speak most privately with the trolls (Grand Pabbie). He was all too happy to let her go on. Tired as he was, nice as it might be to see the family and relax in the comfort of his childhood home, Anna's teeth had only dropped down more throughout the night, her pupil was lost now amongst the blood-red sea of her ever-expanding iris. She looked as a demon, and he was frightened.

"GRAND PABBIE!" she called out as soon as she stepped amongst a mass of moss-covered stones. She waited, five long seconds, before the telltale rumble of rock coming to life. They smiled dopey smiles to see her, cheering her presence until it was noticed. The changes. A hush fell over the crowd, and soon it parted for the eldest and gravest of them to step forth.

"Princess," He didn't sound surprised to see her, or to see her in the way that she currently was. He didn't look it either. He seemed… resigned. He seemed like he'd been waiting for this. Her eyes narrowed.

"You know what ails me." He watched her with wary eyes for a few long moments, before nodding once.

"I do." She dared to allow hope a chance to bloom, pleasant warmth beginning to chase off the cold dread that had settled quite heavily within her.

"An-and you can fix it, right?" His eyes closed, shoulders drooping slightly. The hope withered and died, leaving her cold once more. "ANSWER ME!" she hissed, eyes burning with the want to cry.

"I cannot help you," The fight drained from her body. Her will failed and she crumbled. She was so tired. All this, coming up here in the dead of night like it was some dirty secret, embarrassing herself in front of the sister she so wanted to devour, the hunger, the EVERYTHING, it demolished her. Tears welled up and slid down her cheeks. She did not feel them. She was too tired to sob.

"Why?" Her voice cracked, her dead eyes met his and he was sad, but she felt little. Just hunger. Just pain.

"Anna, it is not my wish to leave you in this state," he spoke softly as he stepped closer to her. As if she were a wild beast he must soothe and tame. Lest it go full mad and attack him. "I warned your parents against it, but they did not listen." Her tears stopped suddenly and she blinked, focusing him with bright curious eyes.

"My parents?" Something in her tone was biting. "What do they have to do with this?"

"Everything."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi. I've been bad. Did some things I shouldn't have. Failed to do things I should have. Broke some hearts, let a lot of people down. But apparently I sing real nice. So... I got that goin for me.**

**In unrelated news: I bought myself How to Train yo' Dragon 2. AKA, How to be a terrible parent, 2. How to disregard everything Hiccup says even though he knows what he's talking about, 2. How to fucking die, 2. How to be better than everyone else, 2. How to almost be batman, 2. How to fly faster than your friends, 2. How to be strangely sexy, 2. How to fucking ignore Hiccup, 2. **

* * *

><p>When she awoke, it was with no small amount of confusion filling her. She hadn't even remembered falling asleep. And, for that matter, she hadn't been plagued by her nightmares. The sky was high above, and rock she felt at her back. But she was surprisingly comfortable. Warm and well-rested and content like she hadn't been since… It was a few moments before the reality of her situation kicked her brain into start; her stomach howled with hunger, so unsettled and so demanding she was overcome with a sense of nausea. She was shaking and sweating right away, breathing was highly difficult and her vision warped in and out of focus wildly.<p>

"Anna," The call of her name made everything stop. Focus was brought back and colors were brilliantly bright and obnoxiously vivid. Her mouth hurt and sounds were louder in her ears than she was used to. Her head tipped back, she took in the air, mouth curling into a displeased snarl when the scent of that which could curb her hunger was not present. "Anna." She blinked, looked about herself; eventually her eyes settled onto Grand Pabbie. The troll king looked as grave and gloomy as ever. "You're awake."

"I was sleeping?" It wasn't so much a question for him, as for herself. She'd slept then, she really, actually had! She looked to the sky, then, to see how long she'd been asleep. The last she remembered she'd been sick with dread, dawn just peeking over the mountains. Now the sky was almost dark, the sun setting beyond and behind her, stars beginning to insert themselves in the vast blanket of deep dark night.

"I sent Kristoff back," That brought her attention back to him. She moved without realizing it, without recognizing that ten feet was quite a space to cross in less time than it took to blink.

"WHAT?! How am I supposed to get back down it's not like I can just WALK down the mountain before sun up!"

"And you won't. I sent him back so he might inform the Queen and the barrage of soldiers she had out searching for you that you were safe and well and simply needed advice on… certain things which he was not at a liberty to discuss."

"Oh," she deflated, setting the shaman back down on his own two rock-feet. The grip on his upper arms had left slight indents. She didn't notice, looking about her with more purpose, trying to figure out where exactly she was. Still in the valley, obviously, but not a part of it she recognized. "Right. That." The same sense of dread that'd tied her stomach into knots earlier, at the mention of her parents and… something, that they shouldn't have done involving her, it curled once more around her insides and squeezed until she was ready to be sick again. "I apologize. For overreacting… and for, err, umm, sleeping, I guess." He almost smiled at her rambling; his lips twitched but before anything could be borne of it his grim expression came back, deepening.

"Anna, we have much to discuss." Her own crooked, sheepish smile fell, curling into a decidedly sour frown.

"That we do." She sat herself as gracefully as she could upon the ground, fixing him with a serious, stern gaze as she settled onto the warm stone. "My parents. You said they have everything to do with this?" He sat himself in front of her, letting out a long, low, soft sigh. Gathering his thoughts.

"What do you know?"

"About this? It hurts, my head and heart and body just ache all the time; like I've been struck by sickness. I can't eat. When I try to my body rejects it and it isn't long before I get terribly sick and expel all that I attempted to ingest. I can't sleep. Whenever I usually do manage to fall asleep, I'm plagued by terrifying nightmares that make me sick with disgust and mad with hunger. I'm starting to have waking visions of them, too. The nightmares. I-I keep seeing… _things_, things I wouldn't do. But I know, I always know, in the dreams, the vision, it's me. The blood is on my hands, d-dripping from…" She didn't finish. She felt sick that recalling the images made her feel so dizzy and weak and above all absolutely famished.

"When did it start?" She shook herself, swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth and the bile that had risen to tickle the back of her tongue, and turned her attention back to the troll.

"Two weeks ago." For perhaps the first time in ever, Grand Pabbie's expression wasn't grim. His eyes were wide, mouth dropping open in shock. He sputtered for a few moments before questioning further.

"_Two WEEKS_?" She nodded. "And you haven't fed?" A dark frown accompanies the second nod. "By the gods…"

"What is it?" He was wary once more, his mouth no longer gaping but eyes still rounded and watching her intensely. As if waiting for her to attack. She bristled slightly, just resisted the urge to bare her teeth at him.

_He is RIGHT to fear._

"Did Kristoff attract you?" Her face colored.

"W-what kinda question is that!?" M-maybe, at some point, why did that matter?! It's not like she promised to marry they guy, jeez, they'd kissed once and sure he wasn't BAD looking but it wasn't anyone's business whom she was or was not attracted to, even if faced with the family of the person in question.

"Did his heartbeat call to you?" Pabbie specified. For the briefest moment he allowed himself to smile at her. She wondered if that'd hurt. Her face screwed up, shoulders lifting towards her ears, a shudder wracking her body as she shook her head no.

"Most certainly _not._ Quite the opposite," She shuddered again, the phantom of the scent haunting her nasal memory. "There's been one that calls to me, and… I didn't know how bad it was until I had to be near to her…"

"The Queen." It wasn't a question. But she answered anyway, swallowing past the lump in her throat, tongue flicking out to wet her lips.

"Yes," She felt ashamed to admit it, for some reason or another. "I wanted, wa-want to…"

"When did the dreams start?" She welcomed the distraction of chasing down the much-easier-to-stomach thoughts of the carnage in her dream world.

"Since… my memories came back," Just after the Great Thaw. Err, before? It was only after the Great Thaw that she realized some things were different in her mind than they had been, err, umm, the-the same. They were as they should have been, at least. And it'd come to her after _her_ thaw, but it wasn't until she was back in the castle with Elsa, reconnecting, that she seemed to realize things in her head were changed.

The first night, her dreams had been vague and blurry, but undoubtedly disturbing like they all were now. Each night they were more and more clear. Now they were so real it was difficult to distinguish between what was real and what was taking place just in her head. The waking visions of the past day hadn't been helping her sort out her mental state, either. Here, at least, she felt safe, in that none of these creatures were flesh and blood, and therefore could not bleed. She was of no danger to them, and they would not harm her fragile mental psyche.

"And those were the first?" Here she hesitated. Eventually she shook her head, murmuring quietly,

"Not quite," Her voice cracked and she cleared it. "When… the day my parents left for… Gosh, whatever affair was taking them out of Arendelle during storm season-" she was frowning, her tone bitter, before she swallowed and her expression softened, eyes dropping to the hands clasped together in her lap. "That night, I had a dream. The same devastation. The fires and the screams. The smells and the sights. It was all the same but… it was… there was something _there_. It's not been in the other dreams, just in that first one, just that one time. BUT, that was YEARS ago, I mean…" His expression was as grim as it had ever been when her eyes met his once more. "It can't be important?"

He was silent for a long time then, other than one long, sorrowful sigh. He held his head in his hands for a short eternity, before lifting it and looking to the totally night-darkened sky above for… answers, maybe. Though Anna was certain he had them. He might not be able to help her with… whatever this was, but she knew, she _knew_ that he was very aware of what was happening and why and HOW to help her. He just couldn't for some reason that was probably good, which he might reveal soon so she could calm that wild inner part of herself glaring and growling and demanding she FORCE answers out of him. That part of herself starting to become more appealing. Her fingers twitched, she squeezed her hands tighter together.

"I know what you are, Anna. And I am sorry. I can only curse that your mother and father failed to heed my warnings. I cannot help you child, only one… _person_, can."

"You keep saying that," she wasn't looking at him. Off to the side, over his shoulder. "You keep bringing them up. My parents. What'd they do, exactly?" Her eyes cut to his briefly, and they were sad once more. "They had everything to do with this? What IS this? What's wrong with me?" He was silent again, gathering his thoughts, finding the right words. He began slowly.

"When your mother was pregnant with you, she and your father, I suppose, grew… concerned. Elsa, as dear a child as she was, was born with powers and even as they saw them as a gift, they feared those powers," Anna scowled, thinking back to where exactly _THEIR_ fear had landed _her_. Her lips drew back slightly from her teeth, a low hiss slipping through. Pabbie moved to comfort the beast, continuing, "Understandably! They were powerless, even as the most powerful people in their nation they were utterly powerless compared to their own child."

"Hardly an excuse for what they ended up doing," Anna spat, glaring down at the hands she'd now curled into the fabric of her dress-skirt.

"That came later, however," Pabbie sighed once more; _really_, did the troll ever STOP sighing so? "Years before that incident, when your mother was pregnant and she and your father grew concerned, they ventured to this valley. They asked me of you and… I don't suppose they ever mentioned a single thing."

"Of course not," she was entirely bitter now, not caring for trying to hide it. She'd loved her parents, but they'd done a lot more wrong than good, it seemed. "That would have required actual communication."

"Right," he seemed uncomfortable, so she sighed and pushed the bitter irritation away and tried to pay attention to what he was saying, instead of tripping herself over every little mention of those people that had sired herself and her sister. "Well… Anna, I beg that you keep yourself calm when I tell you this…" She shifted, suddenly anxious.

"A-alright…?" He took a deep breath, sighed it out (_of course_) and looked her dead in the eye. Regret. That's what it was, just… a deep regret, one he must have been carrying with him. It weighed upon him, she sensed.

"You were to be borne with magic strong as your sister's, if not stronger. That was what I gathered from examining your mother and… and immediately it was requested of me, the removal of this magic." She… wasn't entirely certain what she'd expected him to say. But it certainly wasn't that.

"_What?_"

He didn't acknowledge the breathless… something. Question? Demand?

"I told them I would not do it. I told them that you would be perfectly healthy with it, and happy. I do not, have not, and will not dabble in magics the likes of which I would have had to, in order to do such a thing," his frown, for once, was less grim and more… disgusted. She'd never seen a troll sneer, now she could safely say she had been witness to such an odd event. But the sneer fell into a sad, sad frown. Not grim, not dark and grave. Just sad. "I warned them to let it be. Tampering to ensure your normalcy would do more harm than good, if they weren't careful. I warned them. I did, you must understand Anna I knew what might, what could happen and I WARNED them, but, but they just…" And now she could safely say that she was probably the only – human – person that had ever been witness to a frantic, frazzled Grand Pabbie.

She expected a sigh. He did not let her down.

"So… but… I'm not magical…" His sneer came back. With a vengeance. And interest. It was almost a snarl now.

"No you aren't," AND NOW, she could claim being the only person EVER to see Grand Pabbie enraged. "I warned them, and they ignored me. If I would not help them, they would find someone more willing to offer magical services of the darker variety."

"So," There was an odd edge of insane laughter in her voice when she spoke, "So what, you're saying my mother and father… used dark magic on me to… take away what power I would have had? That's... you're joking! You've got to be… I mean… you_ can't_ expect me to take that seriously!"

"I'm sorry, Anna," Apparently that's exactly what he expected. "I cannot help you. This is a matter of souls, and they sold yours to a demon."

* * *

><p><strong>(PS. My best friend calls me Elsa now and... it makes me happy. But I had to admit to her, rather sadly, the other day that the saying the phrase "Conceal don't feel"... actually does calm me down when I start panicking. Go figure.)<strong>


End file.
